13 May 2013

CHICAGO: Attempted Murder Charge After Stabbing Ex-Boyfriend

A Chicago man who has "been married to a woman for 22 years" faces an attempted first degree murder charge after allegedly attacking and stabbing his ex-boyfriend. The stabbing was so severe that the victim suffered "liver damage" and needed "44 staples in his abdomen to close the wound," reports CBS 2.

Police say the incident happened on May 1 in Jackson Park on the city's South Side.

Ronald Smith [and the victim] dated until late April, according to court testimony. The pair fought verbally as the victim rode a bike in the park, and Smith drove in his car, prosecutors said. At some point Smith allegedly got out of his car and took out a knife, stabbing the man in the abdomen and left elbow. He fled after the attack, prosecutors said.

Police arrested him on May 9 after taking him to the police station on an unrelated aggravated battery investigation. Smith’s defense attorney said he has been married to a woman for 22 years.

Married to a woman for 22 years ... but apparently closeted and carrying on with the boys. Perhaps he was threatened with exposure. Tragic.

A 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey
found that the prevalence of intimate partner violence was higher in
some LGBT relationships than in their heterosexual counterparts: 61% of
bisexual women and 44% of lesbian women reported intimate partner
violence versus 35% of heterosexual women. Meanwhile, 26% of gay men and
37% of bisexual men reported being assaulted or stalked by a partner,
compared with 29% of heterosexual men.

Ronald Smith has been ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail. The case continues later this month.